Franklin & Marshall meets 100% need, but doesn't have any merit aid. Their acceptance rate is much higher (39%) than most of the other colleges which meet full need. No idea if it would be a good fit in other ways, but their academics are rigorous. They have an anthropology major and an interdisciplinary major in linguistics. They offer free music lessons for all students and have generous study abroad programs. SUNY Geneseo might be a good fit.

I'm really not sure how anyone could spin this as anything other than good news. Stanford is an uber reach for just about any student. This is just good news all around because out of those students who do get admitted, and I don't think that this really changes anything regarding the chance of being admitted, except possibly making the admissions pool a bit larger, more will be able to have it as an affordable choice. This will affect the middle class range which is the group everyone says gets short changed on college affordability.

Thank you for clarifying! Agreed especially when it comes to standardized test scores. Not all, but a lot of the top stats can be attributed to the difference expensive test prep makes.

But I think our points are somewhat different. I think you're saying that it would be more "fair" if elite colleges only admitted based on pure academic record. I think it's great that colleges do look at what a student has accomplished in comparison to what was available for them at their particular high school. Otherwise, many lower income students from poor rural school districts, or urban ones for that matter, couldn't possibly hope to compete. As the top colleges say, and it's true, they could all fill the available spots several times over with 4.0/2300+ students, but that might not make for the best or most interesting class. A lot of learning takes place outside the classrooms at college. IMO diversity of many types is a huge benefit to all the students. But I may have read the above differently from how you intended. For lower income students, admissions likely takes into account any work experience and understand that if they have put in a lot of time to support themselves and their family that there will likely be fewer other ECs on their applications. This is just one of the reasons why they do holistic admissions reviews of prospective students. But you're right that they have to have the stats in order to even be considered in the first place. As for the ECs being important to the elite colleges, they are looking for students who will contribute to activities and assume leadership roles. Elite schools, as I'm sure all schools, like to make service contributions in the local communities and for that they need willing students. I don't know if there's any correlation, but I would think that students who are involved on campus, and off, are more likely to have a positive experience, and more likely to be involved as alumni. Involved alumni are more likely to be contributing monetarily as well. I agree that the odds are low and while I think that students should aim for those acceptances, they should have other financial and admissions safeties. Some state schools make this easier than others. And match and safety privates aren't a sure thing either as many won't admit students who have a lot of need or will admit them with an unrealistic financial aid offer. Your son did really well with winning highly competitive scholarships on top of the full tuition. For many low income students, getting full tuition alone at a non-commuting school would not be enough to enable them to attend. For some, there's no easy answer.

Here are some stats regarding Pell Grant recipients at some of the top colleges. Bear in mind that not all of these colleges give a free ride to lower income students, or even provide 100% of need. National Universities: http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/economic-diversity-among-top-ranked-schools Liberal Arts College: http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges/economic-diversity-among-top-ranked-schools Regional Universities and Regional Colleges: http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/regional-universities/economic-diversity-among-top-ranked-schools Here's another set of lists for one rating of the best return on investment for universities and liberal arts colleges. Useful info for middle income families as well. http://www.bestvalueschools.com/25-best-value-universities/ http://www.bestvalueschools.com/liberal-arts-colleges-best-roi/

The schools offering a free ride, or close to it, are for the most part extremely competitive with admissions. Many top students don't get in regardless of their financial circumstances, barring the ready to donate a new building few. Colleges a tier down from these will likely give acceptances, but then the challenge becomes how to make up for the gap, even from those who "meet 100% need" because this is often met with loans above the federal ones and counts on student contribution from summer work and work study. For some, the gap is just too large. I'm not saying that students should contribute because I think they should. But work study is not guaranteed and is dependent upon jobs being available for all the students who need them. Ideally these students should be working during high school and saving up for college expenses, but the economy for a lot of years didn't make for a lot of available teen jobs. It also means that it might make it harder for the students to pursue their interests during the summers or they may need to work to help support the family, so nothing will be saved. A lack of money for tuition and room and board is just the beginning. Add on travel and the unexpected expenses that come up and things that just aren't an obstacle for other students may be huge hurdles for some lower income students. No easy answers. Community college fees can usually be covered by the Pell Grant, so that's a big reason why many of these students end up at cc. Definitely not a bad idea for all, but it might not be the best for some depending on their specific situation. To find out how many get a free ride, or close to it, you can look at the common data set for the percent of students who receive Pell Grants. The percent varies at the different colleges, and varies from year to year somewhat as well.

A sense of dread can come along with the gown ... of ironing. :leaving: Dd absolutely loved her community college experience. Congratulations to all!

U of Virginia and Washington and Lee offer great financial aid, but no idea of the distance. U Alabama is further than you'd like, but could make a good safety.

The only thing this is roughly calculating is the Federal EFC which is what FAFSA is about. So even if the number is close to the FAFSA EFC, it doesn't mean that the colleges will calculate your EFC the same way. So even if someone doesn't have lots of savings or a business, etc., this number may still be showing as much less than what the NPCs from colleges will show, or their financial aid offers. It will likely still be an eye-opener to those just beginning the college search process. And they need to keep in mind that this is the very minimum they'll be expected to pay.

Maybe you could write up an email together and have him send it from his email address? That way it comes from him and it would be perfectly normal to say that you'll be giving him a ride and ask if parents are able to attend the luncheon or is it for the students only. If he has any dietary restrictions he could ask about that as well and might get more information about how the lunch will be served. You might also try googling for last year's luncheon and see if you can find any pictures or info. If there are photos, it should be fairly obvious if parents are in attendance. You/he can also speak with someone at the disability office and ask them your questions. I'm assuming that he'll be working with them this current year and it doesn't hurt for him to become acquainted with the counselors. Maybe a quick visit ahead of time to chat with them and then you could also peek in on the room where the event will be held. Just seeing the room first might help him to be more comfortable there when it counts.

I like Creekland's suggestion of a lower cost Penn St campus, and even better if they can commute for two years, and then transfer. As for the debt, your students will be able to take on less than 6K in loans each. Any loans after that will need to be co-signed by the parents. You can't make them attend anywhere, but you can tell them that you can't take the financial risk from the loans. That is your choice.

Dd did quite a few applications, but it was needed as the schools with great financial aid are all reachy. It just surprises me that a top stat student would apply to so many colleges just for free chocolate and t-shirts. It's not that anything is taken away from the colleges as they're looking to raise the stats of students who apply, so they got a fair exchange for their give aways, but it's the students who applied who really wanted to attend and needed the scholarships who may get shortchanged. Some scholarship money may roll over to those accepted off the waitlist, but some schools only distribute it once and don't redistribute if the scholarship awardee turns it down. I had thought about asking dd to do a couple of the quick and free applications, but then I had read about the scholarships. Just echoing TechWife so next year's applicants are aware of the situation as the colleges themselves don't "advertise" this info. The current poster and her daughter likely had no idea. In any case, congratulations to all the students of the Class of 2019 on their college acceptances. The list for all is truly impressive! :hurray: :party: :hurray:

I don't know what your EFC is or if you'd be able to afford to be full pay for both of them for two years, but going to community college with the possibility of transferring to Penn State might be an option. Or go to a low cost OOS public for two years and then apply as a transfer. Not the same as attending all 4 year, but if that's not an option ... I played with Penn's NPC and even for a student with an EFC of $0, the scholarship/grant amount is only 10.6K whether in-state or OOS.

Purpleroses as she was "crying her eyes out" over a rejection on the same day she was admitted to Princeton, she may want to consider carefully whether to attend a school where she will likely experience grades other than A, maybe for the first time.

Agreeing with Creekland about the expenses for scores and CSS. I'd skip the free ones, unless your student actually wants to attend, and the money you'll save, to say nothing of time, could be spent on Perugina, Godiva or any chocolates you like. T-shirts from other colleges have a limited lifespan as most want to wear their own college shirts once on campus. I can't even imagine a senior having a light enough schedule to allow time for all the extra applications. FAFSA sending alone to so many colleges would be incredibly time consuming. Admittedly though we did send a request for information from Carleton after reading that some students who did that were sent a frisbee. Dd got only the brochure, but the marketing schemes do work.

Congratulations to your son! Beth I'd call them to find out what to expect and if parents or guests are invited as well. There will probably be some speakers and the scholarship envelope may be handed out to them individually. You can prepare him with how to receive the envelope in his left hand so he can shake hands with his right and say thank you and to turn around and smile if there's a photographer. Recipients are usually just there to receive the scholarship and not speak, so he shouldn't have to worry about that. Does he know anyone else who will be attending? If so, maybe you could request that they sit at the same table if you are not able to be there. You can tell him that as a general rule to take his cues for what to do by being aware of what others are doing. Generally try to keep table noises down when speakers are speaking, but sometimes there's no other time to eat than when someone is speaking. Maybe you could find out if it's sit-down or buffet style so you can prepare him more specifically. You can also ask if any faculty will be present and if they'll be seated at the tables with the students. If he's familiar with one, maybe he could be seated at that table. Hopefully someone more familiar with Asperger's will be able to give you more specific suggestions.

Thanks Sue!

I just read your other posts about the 42 colleges she got acceptances (and waitlists) from. Congratulations to her on acceptance to Princeton and the others. Hopefully she'll be able to find a good fit out of them in the end.

Yes. You can file FAFSA individually for each school. It may take up to 2-3 days for each one to be processed, so advance planning is needed. Some suggest sending two at a time. Rival colleges. Not a bad idea.

:grouphug: :grouphug:

Sassenach that's great that they're all renewable. In our situation, dd is paying for most of everything herself so the decision really was hers. We just don't have the ability to be of much help, but we would if we could and we do when we can. Every family's circumstances are different and you have to go with what will work for you. Carolyn hopefully somehow they made an error and didn't account for both being there at the same time. I hope they are able to make it affordable for your family. I think it's unreasonable to expect you to wait until July. They may need to see who commits and how much aid they have left after that and after accepting students off the waitlist as well. I know you're not supposed to submit deposits to more than one school, but in your situation it might be the way to go. Maybe someone here has been in that situation or has suggestions.

We didn't say no. Dd made her choice. I did share with her what I read about the financial reality of the school and shared what stretching so far financially might mean. Dd didn't go into the process with any clear favorite, (I had some but those even changed with more research and hindsight) but she did have some top choices. Research, visits and financial aid all factored into her choosing her number one when all was said and done. I hope you get good news, but I'd encourage her to visit all her options, ideally overnight. As hard as it may be to say no now, imagine how much harder it could be should you need to do that two years from now. I forget where to get the info, but you can find out what percent of need is met for freshmen vs what percent is met for students overall. If there's a large difference, chances are your student will receive less aid in another year or two.

For us, the NPCs were more accurate. Percent of need met can be misleading as it is listed as the average percent. What also varies tremendously is how the schools meet need. Most use loans, work study and summer earnings, but some add loans above what the student can access and ask for family contribution well above the EFC. Never used Tuition Tracker and while it does show comparatively how good or bad the schools are at meeting need, the years listed aren't current enough to be accurate. Most recent showing is 2013. Some schools have changed their allocation of financial aid since then and it's not accurately reflected. If you want to really make sure that you have a financial safety, I'd even suggest contacting the financial aid office and asking them what it will likely be. Now is probably not the best time as they are busy getting out financial aid info for the incoming class. I don't know if they'd give info or just refer you to their NPC. Equally important is to make sure that your student actually wants to go to the financial safeties. It may not be their first choice, but it shouldn't be a school they would dread attending.

I was also caught off guard by the difference. Last year I debated requesting an increase in aid from several schools, but we chose not to in the end. I've read so much about schools agreeing to lower the costs for the first year and then giving less aid in following years. The numbers we saw from some schools were unworkable for us and others were a big stretch and thankfully others were affordable. Could you request that they put in writing that they will provide a similar proportion of the cost in grants for all four years, assuming no significant increases in incomes? With that assurance I would keep the college in consideration, but I do understand about not wanting to worry and stress about the finances. At one of dd's original top choices, many students are forced to move off campus,strictly budget food, and work more hours, or transfer. We dropped it from consideration. Dd now has no doubts that she made the right choice, both financially and academically. While I think it's horrible to begin at a "dream" school and need to transfer out two years later due to finances, I think it can work well for some to begin at a financial safety with the thought that they can possibly transfer in two years to the other school. Anecdotally I've read that a lot of students end up happily staying at their financial safety for all four years.

Thinking of all the ivy hopefuls today too. With rejections, it helps not to look at it as 6%, or whatever, admitted, but 94% of the top high school students are rejected. It puts it in a more realistic perspective for me. Even so, some are admitted and hoping and expecting to hear more good results from this year's applicants! The good news for almost all is that this is about the end (thinking of USNA and others which still have some waiting) of getting results. Soon your student can look at the options, plan visits and make decisions.